Credit Union Marketing, Appealing to Emotion and Millennials

I recently read an article written by CO-OP Financial Services that was published in the Credit Union Times. Four Major Consumer Trends This Year focuses on opportunities that credit unions have to improve their bottom line and strengthen bonds with their membership. The trends identified were:

1. Betterment – The Human Desire for Constant Improvement
2. Ubitech – The Pervasiveness of Technology
3. Helpfull – The Age of Increased Member Expectations
4. Local Love – Community Was Never More Important

I hadn’t gotten far through the article when my mind took a detour. While all of these components are important, and in many ways essential to acclimating to a changing landscape, the philosophical concept of betterment can underscore any and all marketing efforts enacted by a credit union.

Strategy over tactic

The article sites Maslow’s “Heirarchy of Needs,” the idea that humans have several levels of requirements which fall into a hierarchical pyramid. Near the base are more physiological needs concerning basic health and safety, and near the top are ego-leaning needs regarding esteem and self-worth. It follows … Someone struggling to make ends meets is probably not all that worried about designer suits and handbags (at least we’d hope not). An individual must sufficiently meet a lower level’s needs before moving onto the next set of concerns. It’s this cyclical human drive that is at the base of our approach to virtually everything: betterment of the self.

This reminded me of another study I had recently read conducted by Filene Research Institute. Its Gen Y & Money: Overconfident and Undercapable study asserts that while 70 percent of Gen Y respondents regard themselves as having “high financial knowledge,” only 24 percent were able to answer three of five simple financial literacy questions correctly, and only 8 percent were correct on all five.

How it all adds up

All very telling, but what does it all mean? It suggests to me that these young accountholders want to think of themselves as knowledgeable; there is a desire for financial betterment. While overconfidence invites criticism and head-shaking, let’s ignore it and feed their desire for economic understanding. We don’t have to feed their egos, but we can keep their secret safe while giving them the knowledge to give their claims substance.

Consider tying financial education into content marketing when reaching out to millennials. There are simple instances where these individuals may have a rudimentary understanding of a financial process, but lack real specifics. How many millennials can accurately account for interest paid over the life of a student loan, or the benefits of consolidation? How many can clearly define the monetary implications of a 60- versus a 72-month auto loan? How many can detail the intricacies of APR and closing fees when purchasing their first home? This is knowledge that they want – perhaps part of the betterment that can help them along to another level in their hierarchy.

If you’d like to learn more about CU Solutions Group’s turnkey financial education tools, or need help developing a content marketing piece, don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us today!

Millennials – Challenge and Opportunity for Credit Unions

by Chris Steffes, Remote Services Consultant

This fall, the UK-based mobile payments company, Monitise, published research on mobile trends and statistics impacting digital banking. With over 300 perspectives on global mobile use, it provides valuable insight to credit unions when considering how to attract new members.

The jury has returned a verdict when it comes to millennials and their attitudes towards financial institutions. 53% of millennials don’t believe their bank/credit union is any different from other financial institutions. 73% would be more excited about a new financial services offering from Google/Amazon/Apple/Square/Paypal than their own bank.

And most alarming – 33% believe that soon, they won’t need a bank/credit union at all.

Despite the challenges most credit unions face in attracting millennials, there are significant growth opportunities available to credit unions who leverage millennial values within their member acquisition strategy. Here are a few ideas to set your credit union apart from the competition:

• Enlist millennials’ help in designing new product offerings. 
  If there are two things we know about millennials, it’s that they love to be engaged in trending topics and they love to use social media. Why not start a social media contest that enables millennials to design the credit union of the future? Add an incentive, such as a small financial award or donation to their favorite charity, and suddenly, you’ve changed your brand image to one that invites progressive member input via digital channels. The reality is, credit unions are uniquely poised to encourage member involvement by the nature of the credit union charter. Why not move the forum to social media in order to engage current members and attract new ones?
  
  
• Engage millennials’ sense of purpose.
  According to the most recent data from The Millennial Impact Project, millennials are civic-minded and prefer to support issues rather than organizations. They also prefer to take smaller actions when championing a cause. Credit unions can provide millennials with opportunities to support their preferred social issue through matching contributions or by sponsoring community reinvestment programs, such as park clean-ups or local food drives. By engaging this demographic at the local level, you gain trust and loyalty.
  
  
• Amp up the interaction. Want to understand what millennials really think of your credit union? Try inviting them to a focus group – either by attending an evening session at the branch, or through video-conferencing, such as Skype or GoToMeeting. Either way, you'll be able to collect valuable information about what matters most to the millennial member.
  
  
• Amp up your website.
  Millennials need to experience a credit union from both the website and in person – and in that order.  Make sure you provide this generation with plenty of easy to access information on clean, organized Web pages within your site. Their experience with navigating your site will determine if they want to take the next step and become a member. Be sure to include community-minded pages and events, tips on how to manage finances and links to blogs and other articles.

As you develop your technology plan to meet the needs of millennial members, consider including these activities to complement your strategy and increase loyalty with this generation.

If you need a hand reaching millennials, CU Solutions Group can help with mobile banking, website development (including responsive design), social media strategy and much more. 

 

Top Mobile Banking Feature for Credit Unions in 2015

With millennials representing 25% of the population, nearly all of them are mobile. As 57% of this segment uses mobile banking as their primary means to bank, the demand to meet their growing mobile expectations continues to soar.

Fortunately, mobile software providers are rising to the challenge, and responding with powerful tools that will make our lives more convenient than ever. But there’s an added bonus to some of the features coming in 2015 – they’re revenue generators.

Here’s a sneak peek of what’s coming our way:

• Photo Bill Pay: While this product is already available at the big banks, it is not yet in wide distribution. Plan to see it available to credit unions on large scale in 2015, either as a stand-alone product, or integrated with a mobile banking software provider.
  
  Photo bill pay is another one of those disruptive technologies that people want, like remote deposit capture and Apple Pay. It’s the ultimate consumer convenience tool – simply take a picture of your bill with your smartphone, and the technology auto-fills the payee fields. And while it doesn’t generate revenue for the credit union, photo bill pay does attract new audiences, which means new membership growth. With slick and smart technology, photo bill pay will be a big deal next year.
  
  
• Photo Balance Transfer: The sister to photo bill pay is photo balance transfer, and will generate revenue for credit unions by growing credit card usage. Photo balance transfer is a feature within the mobile banking app that enables members to open new credit cards through an application and a photo of their existing credit card statement, transferring their balance to a new, credit union-issued card. With Millennials preferring to use their smartphone or tablet over a PC or laptop, adding easy-to-access application features will increase card sales.
  
  
• Mobile Loan Application: There are plenty of online loan application tools available on the market, but few mobile banking apps that offer a loan application tool. But that’s about to change, as software providers are building mobile loan tools that fit within your existing app. CUNA Mutual Group reported that loan completion rates in 2013 were higher when generated through a smartphone or tablet (49%), versus a PC or laptop (37%). And since the average age of applicants on mobile is 31 years, looking for a mobile loan application tool that fits within your existing app makes good business sense.

Bank of America recently reported that 31% of mobile banking users check their bank account at least once daily, proving that your mobile banking app has become a strategic channel for engaging millennials, which translates into new members, revenue growth, increased loyalty, and continued relevance. Make 2015 the year to turn your current mobile solution into a revenue-generating channel.

CU Solutions Groups can help you connect to the Millennial group better than you ever have before with technologies like: youth sites, social media campaigns, cutting edge graphic design, mobile sites and smartphone apps, and even video creation. 

How to Engage Your Credit Union Members Online

For many credit unions, online engagement begins and ends with setting up a Facebook page and periodically posting specials and promotions on it. In this day and age of the savvy online member, this is no longer enough. To truly engage current or potential members, and hopefully up your wallet share, a more thoughtful online approach is needed. 

A recent study from Digital Fieldwork, Digital Engagement Framework for Credit Unions and Millennials, definitely focused more on the younger generations, but its findings could help your credit union better engage online with members of all ages. 

Facebook

The study discovered that the average credit union Facebook page gets “likes” from between 1% and 15% of its actual membership, the median falling at about 5%. As for the posts themselves, credit unions tend to post about their services, latest news, upcoming events, etc. While these are good to post periodically, they won’t motivate your members to engage with you. The posts that get the most member interaction? Posts that discuss community news, share stories or are in general more social in nature are the most popular.

Your average member isn’t on Facebook to seek financial advice. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be part of your social media strategy. Use a sampling of different kinds of posts to see which garner the most attention. Start with your more traditional promotional post and then try a few fun ones that are topical or just more “humanizing” and see what happens. Each credit union will have different results, so revise your social media strategy accordingly once you see what posts are the most popular. 

Twitter

The Digital Fieldwork study uncovered that only 1% to 2% of a credit union’s membership is on Twitter. This social media platform is more B2B rather than B2C. Take a look at your followers to check who is actually following you. Chances are it’ll be other credit unions and industry-related companies. As with Facebook, run some test posts to see what gets the most engagement. 

Do these low member follower numbers mean you should forget Twitter altogether in your credit union’s strategy? Nope. One interesting feature Twitter has is its advanced search function. You can search for people in your community that are talking about financial-related topics like credit card rates, debt, car loans, etc. Just use Twitter search operators like near: NYC within: 15mi. Then your credit union can be proactive and engage with the Twitter user instead of waiting for them to come to you! Learn more about Twitter advanced search here.  

Forums

A major focus of the Digital Fieldwork study is to use forums to interact with current and potential members. Chances are if someone is going to a forum to talk about finances it’s either because they’re unhappy with their financial institution or just have questions that need answers. Lucky for you, your credit union can help with both! And your responses won’t just be read by the questioner, but by everyone accessing that forum as well. The study recommends reddit, askville, Yahoo! Answers, creditboards and You Need a Budget. We could also recommend these forums: FatWallet, Money Talk, Bogleheads and The Finance Forums. Do a few searches and see if you can find some forum users who could benefit from your credit union’s help.

Whatever social media platforms your credit union uses, just make sure you approach them with a plan. If you credit union isn’t strategizing on how to convert social media engagement into membership and wallet share growth, then it’s like you’re talking to yourself. 

Let CU Solutions Group help your credit union create a realistic, measurable and solid social media strategy to help you succeed in the digital world.

The Millennials Are Coming – Is Your Credit Union Ready?

by Nancy Norman, PHR

According to last month’s HR Magazine, Millennials will make up 75% of the U.S. labor force by the year 2025. With that in mind, it is crucial that HR has an understanding of what drives this generation.

To understand motivation, it is important to know where this generation is coming from.  First and foremost, this is the generation raised with personal computers. Technology has always been the preferred way to get work done, solve life’s problems, and connect with people. This group of workers favors collaboration in teams and is the most connected virtually. However, they have also been the most overprotected – growing up in an “over-adult-supervised” environment. Parents effectively convinced this generation that they were the center of the universe. In addition, they received trophies just for showing up.

The Millennials are coming to a cubicle near you and there is little to be done to stem the tide. How can your organization be prepared for and even embrace this growing population in your workforce? Ideally, you want to be proactive in adjusting your “policies, practices and procedures to leverage this generations strengths and minimize its weaknesses.”

The article focuses on 3 key areas:

FLEXIBILITY:  Millennials want flexibility in everything: schedules, locations, and assignments. They place less importance on where the work is done and what time the work occurs. They also like variety in their assignments. The desire for diverse work experiences can be perceived as wanting to move up, when it is often simply a need to do something different.

TRANSPARENCY:  This group wants to know the why behind the decisions. They will ask more direct questions and will require greater transparency from the organization. When transparency makes sense, do it. When it doesn’t, be prepared to explain why.

COMMUNITY:  Millennials expect work to be social and fun. They like to collaborate and they do their best work in teams. Examine not only your business processes, but your space. Look for ways to encourage employees to gather and collaborate. The article suggests gathering spaces in your work area as well as group onboarding to create camaraderie and loyalty among the new hires.

Examine your business practices and determine how these changes fit into your business model and align with your strategic plan. The point is not to cater to one particular generation, but to recognize and find ways all may benefit by these updated policies. As the article says, “Focus less on the characteristics society has ascribed to the emerging Millennial generation and more on policies and practices that support the changing demands being placed on our workforce.”

SOURCE: HR Magazine, October 2013 Issue, “New Kids on the Block,” article by Kathryn Tyler.